Memories of the Cayman Islands Jazz Fest, Pt. 1

By Ronda Racha Penrice


I had the good sense to know way back in September that I would love to catch Alicia Keys, UPTOWN’s December/January cover girl, headlining the Cayman Islands Jazz Fest in December.

Since launching in 2004, the Cayman Islands Jazz Fest has steadily grown in popularity. For the 2009 edition, Oleta Adams, Kirk Whalum, Peebo Bryson, Mike Phillips and Keith Sweat performed. That’s a blockbuster line-up for the states so it’s super killer on a Caribbean island known for good times. Who doesn’t love sunshine, beaches and great food? Throw in the fact that it’s just a little over two hours away from my Atlanta abode via plane, and it can’t be beat.  So, that’s what kept me going for weeks and then when the cold hit Atlanta, both my mind and my body were ready for paradise.

Okay, it was super-duper hot in the Cayman Islands and people were literally stripping down right after landing. Customs went by quickly and we were greeted by our hosts. We even had our own car for the weekend, driven of course by someone who knew the lay of the land. One of the two other writers on the trip, Liz Borod Wright, was also from NYC. Crazy thing is she, like Dennis Malcolm Byron, my colleague from Atlanta, went to Cornell and then studied journalism at Columbia, my alma mater.  Talk about connections.

We headed to the beautiful Westin Casuarina Resort & Spa, where we lunched poolside. Since the Cayman Islands, which I learned is pronounced Cay-Man, have several varieties of rum, with Tortuga Rum among the better known, drinks like the piña colada have a distinctive Cayman twist. Lunch was fab, but it was time to rest and I was staying in a gorgeous apartment in Camana Bay that I couldn’t wait to see ... .

Read PART TWO, PART THREE, and PART FOUR.  

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Show/Hide comments

Title
Comment
Name
Email
Website
Write the displayed characters
	Add Comment

---